


Who Girl

by under_a_grey_cloud



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Firefly
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-04-29 03:27:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5114252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/under_a_grey_cloud/pseuds/under_a_grey_cloud
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A blue wooden box (TARDIS) lands inside Serenity, a firefly airship. The Doctor and River find they can read each others' minds. As they begin to forge a friendship, they are forced by circumstances to flee Serenity in the TARDIS.</p><p>Summary of firefly characters, for those who need it.</p><p>firefly: a post-apocalyptic tv show set after "Earth that was" [our earth] was decimated. New world is dominated by "The Alliance" and rebels. Firefly is a rebel ship.<br/>Malcolm Reynolds: Captain of Serenity. Tough but good. Values his ship and crew above all else.<br/>Jayne Cobbe: Mercenary. Crew? Loves guns and artillery. Values his well-being above all else.<br/>Kaylee Frye: Ship engineer. Very sweet, kind, good.<br/>Hoban "Wash" Washburne: Ship pilot. Funny and good. Married to Zooey.<br/>Zooey Washburne: Captain's Second in Command. Tough but good. Married to Wash.<br/>Simon Tam: Doctor/ship medic. River's brother. Born Alliance but now rebel harboring fugitive.<br/>River Tam: Mega-genius; tortured and broken by Alliance. Born Alliance. Now rebel fugitive.<br/>Derrial "Book": Preacher highly regarded by Alliance.<br/>Inara Serra: Socially elite "companion" (respected call girl)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Serenity

     The Doctor sat on the floor by the console, tapping the rubber soles of his red trainers, bored and dejected. He was tired of traveling alone, but he didn’t know how to find a new companion. Strictly speaking, companions found him. No one had found him in a long time.

     His brooding was interrupted by a whack on the butt as he was suddenly lifted and unceremoniously dropped back on the floor. The TARDIS had started moving. Quickly. Very quickly. The Doctor jumped up, eyes wide, and looked around. This was more like it. She was making unusually loud banging noises, and her heart was pumping erratically, increasing speed in what would have struck anyone else as an alarming fashion. The Doctor grinned and grabbed the console as everything began to shake. A sudden jolt sent him sprawled on the floor on his bottom again.  _“Rubber trainers don’t help much when I’m repeatedly dropped on my butt,”_ he thought _. “I wonder how I could make a rubber butt bumper.”_  The TARDIS was spinning and jerking and bouncing like crazy, causing the Doctor to do the same.

     He tried to stand up just as the TARDIS suddenly came to a stop with a very hard and very loud thump that sent him sailing again, his head smacking the console. He clearly heard the word “verse,” making him wonder if he’d sustained a concussion. “Nah,” he thought, jumping up. “The TARDIS has never spoken before,” he mused. “All that thumping must have damaged the internal acoustic system.” Of course he didn’t stay to investigate the acoustics; he ran out the door to investigate the much more interesting question of where he had landed.

     In his enthusiasm, he smashed the door hard into, into  _something_ , causing a stash of metal objects to scatter exceptionally loudly. One hit him in the face. He grabbed it and quickly dropped it on a large pile as if it were too hot to touch. “Guns,” he said with disgust, giving the pile a small kick, immediately followed by “Ouch!” These were not just guns. They were  heavy artillery.

    “I’d thank you not to be insulting my weapons unless you’d like to see one pointed real close to your face,” said a man in a brown coat. The Doctor took a step back. “I’m Mal, Captain of this ship. Her name's Serenity. My word is pretty much law around here. Now if you’d be so kind as to tell me, what in the ‘Verse is that beat up blue box doing on my ship?”

     If the Doctor were a porcupine, he’d bristle. “She’s not beat up, and she's not a  _box_ , _”_  he said, glaring at the Captain. “She’s a--”

     “TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimension in Space,” interrupted a young woman seated on the floor, holding her knees to her chest

     “How did you know that?” the Doctor and the Captain asked simultaneously. The young woman stared at the floor, burying her face with her long dark hair that hung over an unravelling red sweater that looked like it might fit Mal. An absurd pink tutu revealed a pair of black shorts like leggings underneath. Apparently, a reply wasn’t coming. Everyone was staring at the Doctor.

     He inhaled sharply and deeply. “Hello,” he said with a tentative grin, looking at the huge pile of ammunition he’d knocked over while landing. Way too many people were carrying way too many guns for his taste. He decided now was not a good time to discuss his feelings about weapons. “I’m the Doctor, and as the very clever young woman pointed out, this is my TARDIS. My  _ship_. I must say I like to keep her cleaner than yours _._  This place looks a bit of a mess, doesn’t it,” the Doctor said.

      Mal bristled, porcupine or not. “I told you her name is  _Serenity,”_  he repeated _. “_ The only reason she’s a bit disorganized right now is that you just landed right smack on top of our ammunition. And I’d have you know, doctor or not, you complain about Serenity **,**  you’re complainin’ about my own self and my crew. She may not look as shiny as that  _wooden box_  of yours, but she’s as flight worthy as any ship in the ‘Verse. That clear enough for you?"

     “Absolutely. I’m certain your shi-, Serenity, is,” the Doctor paused, assessing the balance between his usual friendliness and his growing anger about the way the Captain was insulting his ship. “As  _shimmery_ as you say."

      He was interrupted by River's giggling. "You mean shiny," she said.

      "Shiny," the doctor corrected himself. "As is the 'beat-up blue box' which is my TARDIS. Have a look inside,” he said, grinning as he opened the door, waiting for the collective gasp. Which didn’t come.

     “She’s awful shiny,” said a dirty but smiley young woman. “Where’s her engine? I bet she’s got one of the shiniest engines I’ve seen this side of the ‘Verse.”

     "Actually she could use a bit of polishing," the Doctor replied, unsure of what the young woman had intended.

     She smiled. "That's not what I meant," she said. "I meant I'd love to take a closer look at her engine."

     Mal spoke up before the Doctor had a chance to reply.

     “Looks pretty flight worthy to me,” he said, wandering around and inspecting details. “Though there’s an awful lot here I don’t reckon I’ve seen before. My sincere apologies for disrespectin’ your, what do you call her?”

     “TARDIS. Travel and Relative Distance in Space and Time,” the Doctor said proudly. "As this young lady," he spun around, looking for her. He found her crouched under the console, head down, long hair covering her body. She looked like Cousin It, a character from an old Earth television show that the Doctor was particularly fond of.  _Perhaps it's best not to call attention to the girl's current location,_ the Doctor considered. "As the young lady in question correctly deduced earlier."

     “Well, I wouldn’t know about that,” the Captain said, “but she’s a gorram sight shinier on the inside than the out.” This was a new one for the Doctor, and he smiled. He loved new ones. “In fact,” Mal continued, “I’d say that blue box is a mighty good disguise. Alliance or Reaver ships, don’t matter, they’d fly right by you. It sure would come in handy if Serenity could do that. Where’s she from?” Mal asked.

     “Gallifrey,” said the young woman from under the console. The Doctor’s jaw dropped. She came out and seemed to be staring, wild eyed, at nothing. "Red grass, two suns in the orange sky, oh the sky, the sky, so many machines and screaming and dying. So much dying. Dying dying dying dying dying!” Words became a scream as she shook her head violently back and forth. Out of nowhere a young man appeared. He held her in his arms like a child, murmuring “It’s ok. It’s ok, River. You’re safe. I’m here. It's safe here. No bad machines. No wars. No-” River screamed even louder at the word “wars.” She shoved her brother away and stood in the middle of the TARDIS, shrieking at the top of her lungs.

     The Doctor had been moving very slowly toward her. When he was close enough, he reached out a hand to touch her shoulder. To the amazement of the entire crew of Serenity, she stopped screaming and looked him in the eyes. “I’m sorry,” the Doctor said quietly. “I’m so sorry. But I have to do this.” He placed a hand on each of the girl’s temples, gently holding her head. They stood that way for several minutes, in absolute silence. No one had ever been able to completely quiet River before, not even Simon.

     After a while the Doctor let go and studied the face opposite his. He had the disquieting feeling that River knew much more about him than he did about her.

     “I like him,” River said to no one in particular.

     “Whoa, whoa, hang on a minute here,” said Mal. “I myself find this doctor more’n a mite interesting, but that’s no cause to be making eyes at him. We barely know the man,” he said, aiming a hard look at the Doctor.

     “He understands me,” River said, more than a touch of amazement in her voice.

     Her brother Simon frowned.

     “That’s just plain foolishness,” said a man armed with more weapons than seemed logistically possible. “Your brother Simon here,” he said, with a rather nasty tone of voice, “he’s known you your whole gorram life. Way I see it, he’s taken mighty good care of you, and I don’t see any reason to think that’s gonna stop any time soon. After all the trouble you given us so far, I don’t reckon I like the idea of you makin’ google eyes at a total stranger. What if he’s Alliance?”

     Simon glared at the man. “Does he seem Alliance? He seems like a nutcase to me. Look at his hair. And shoes.” He turned toward Mal. “All the same, I seem to remember quite a few times you’d have been more than happy to get rid of me and my sister. What’s this concern about her all of a sudden? She doesn’t deserve a boyfriend?”

     “I don’t want a boyfriend,” River said at exactly the same time the Doctor said “I don’t want a girlfriend.”

     “No need to get nasty,” Mal interjected. “You've got a point. River ain’t no piece of cargo. I reckon it’s her prerogative to choose her friends.”

     River leaned back against the TARDIS wall next to Simon as if she were trying to disappear into it. "I never thought anyone could understand me," she whispered.

     “Maybe so,” Simon said, glaring at the Doctor. “But he’s not your brother. How do you know he won’t just turn on you during one of your fits?”

     River sat back down on the floor and held her head in her hands. “I just know,” she whispered. River never knew things that weren’t true.

     The entire crew was silent. They were used to situations they could deal with, however dangerous. This was entirely new.

     “She’s a mite quieter than I ever heard her,” Mal said. “That’s a whole lot easier on my ears, and I suspect all of yours as well.”

     Despite his fury, Simon couldn’t disagree with the Captain’s words. He looked utterly defeated. He couldn’t imagine his little sister with this strange man with his strange wooden box ship. But he  _could_  imagine how he’d feel if he insisted River stay away from the doctor out of pride, or guilt. He sighed deeply and resigned himself to continue doing what was best for River, however much it hurt.

     “You okay with all this, honey?” asked the girl who’d asked about the engine.

     “No,” River answered. “I’ll never be ok.” She looked at the Doctor, who let down his guard for a moment and looked infinitely sad, sad beyond his years. Sad beyond a lifetime.

     “Can he stay?” River asked.

     “Now wait just a gorram minute here,” Mal announced. “No one’s said anything about anyone joinin’ my crew. On my ship. And that pacifistic doctor yonder ain’t exactly been aiming for an invite, far as I can tell. I don’t know that I could use another man who got trouble takin’ orders,” he said, staring at Jayne.

     “I’d like that,” the Doctor said to River, ignoring the general tumult.

     River took his hand. The Doctor couldn’t remember the last time someone had taken his hand. That was usually his job.

     Suddenly a voice shouted from another room. “Captain, we got incoming!”

     “What’s it look like, Wash?” Mal shouted. “Can you get a visual?”

     “Not sure,” Wash called, “but it doesn’t look good. Hold on while I, oh shit! It looks like Reavers!”

     Suddenly the TARDIS was empty except for the Doctor and River. The Doctor had never heard of Reavers, although an image of cannibal mutants at the edge of the universe flashed through his head. He barely paid attention. He was still amazed at what he’d seen in River’s mind. Horrifying glimpses of River’s brain connected to machines, machines that were designed to control and hurt. He could see her resistance had been amazingly strong. Just not strong enough. The damage was right in front of him. He wanted to help. He needed to help. He wasn’t too keen on his reception by the crew, but he didn’t feel he had a choice. If he could stay and help River, he was going to stay and help River.

     Suddenly the TARDIS began shaking and wavering, causing everything that wasn’t attached to anything else to fall. The Doctor barely paid attention; he was used to that. What really worried him was that the fallen objects rolled first in one direction, then another, rolling into themselves, beginning to bounce. He laid his hands on each of River’s shoulders.

     “You have to get out right now,” he said, “We could take off any time.”

     River ran toward the door, which was stuck in the pile of ammunition it landed in. The TARDIS began moving faster than she could free the door.

     “No!” she cried. “Simon! Simon!!” The door slammed shut, leaving River inside.

     “Better grab onto something and hold on tight. We’re about to take off, like it or not. Come on,” he shouted at the TARDIS. He needed to put as much distance as possible between River and him and these Reavers.

     The Doctor slammed the accelerator as hard as he could, then slammed an entire control panel. Something worked. Serenity was long gone, and they were hurling through space and time at top speed.

     The Doctor was in his element now, elated and very curious about where and when they were headed. River wasn’t taking it as well. She huddled against a wall again, burying her head in her hair and shaking. “I’m an idiot!” he said and slapped his head as he realized that leaving her brother behind so suddenly, in imminent danger of Reavers, whatever they were, may not have been particularly easy on River. He approached her as carefully as possible, dodging what was now debris, and squatted down to her level. He gently brushed her hair away so he could see her face. She wasn’t screaming, which was good, but she didn’t move or acknowledge the Doctor either. “Ah, River” he muttered, and suddenly remembered the River he’d met at the Library. Two Rivers who had inexplicably known way too much about him. He wondered if there was a connection.

     “No,” whispered the River in front of him. “We're completely different Rivers. I’m so scared. I need Simon!”

     The Doctor moved to River and wrapped his arms around her. He could feel the tension in her entire body. Occasionally she whimpered, and the Doctor stroked her hair and tried to comfort her as best he knew how. They sat that way for a long time, squatting on the floor, while the TARDIS heaved and hurled uncontrollably. It probably would have done the same if the Doctor had been piloting, or trying to. Eventually River’s breathing slowed as she calmed down. The Doctor  didn’t know where they were headed, but the TARDIS seemed to pick up on their calm and slowed down, the noises receding to their usual level. The Doctor watched River for a minute as he realized how good it felt to touch another person, how long he’d been alone. He found the thought vaguely disquieting. In fact, the entire situation was extremely disquieting.


	2. Gallifrey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A blue wooden box (TARDIS) lands inside Serenity, a firefly airship. The Doctor and River find they can read each others' minds. As they begin to forge a friendship, they are forced by circumstances to flee Serenity in the TARDIS.
> 
> Summary of firefly characters, for those who need it.
> 
> firefly: a post-apocalyptic tv show set after "Earth that was" [our earth] was decimated. New world is dominated by "The Alliance" and rebels. Firefly is a rebel ship.  
> Malcolm Reynolds: Captain of Serenity. Tough but good. Values his ship and crew above all else.  
> Jayne Cobbe: Mercenary. Crew? Loves guns and artillery. Values his well-being above all else.  
> Kaylee Frye: Ship engineer. Very sweet, kind, good.  
> Hoban "Wash" Washburne: Ship pilot. Funny and good. Married to Zooey.  
> Zooey Washburne: Captain's Second in Command. Tough but good. Married to Wash.  
> Simon Tam: Doctor/ship medic. River's brother. Born Alliance but now rebel harboring fugitive.  
> River Tam: Mega-genius; tortured and broken by Alliance. Born Alliance. Now rebel fugitive.  
> Derrial "Book": Preacher highly regarded by Alliance.  
> Inara Serra: Socially elite "companion" (respected call girl)

            River was sitting with her knees up and her head down again, leaning against the wall, enclosed by hair. The Doctor thought it best to leave her undisturbed for a while. He was perturbed, even bemused, very unusual emotions for him. He decided to read a newspaper, which entailed searching through the cartons of artifacts he'd found intriguing enough to save. Each carton was alphabetized, containing only items whose names began with the letter written on the carton. He wished, as he often did, that he had alphabetized the cartons themselves, but he'd never gotten around to it. Finally he found the box labeled "N" and picked up a newspaper from 21 November 7104. He sat down on the floor and flipped through it. He always remembered everything he read, so the newspaper was not very entertaining. He put it back in the "N" carton, and kicked the box out of the way. It ended up in a space between "W" and "Q".

            Feeling out of sorts, he puttered around the TARDIS for a while. He stopped in the wardrobe room, and riffled through the huge closet, taking out random clothing, holding it up in front of himself as he looked in the mirror, and sticking it back haphazardly. The room began to fill with dust and the Doctor had a sneezing fit. He had no idea how to clean all the clothing, so he left in search of other diversion. Suddenly he was overtaken by a sense of dread. He ran back to the console room to check on River, but she but was nowhere to be found. He started randomly running through the corridors, shouting “River?” till he was back at the console. No River, but the TARDIS had stopped moving.

            “She must be outside,” he thought, with a good deal of trepidation. Wherever outside was. He opened the TARDIS door, hoping to see River right outside.

            _“What?!”_ he thought _. “WHAT?! No. No, this can’t be. I have to get out of here, now,”_ he screamed in his head. He was back on Gallifrey. The red grass, the huge snow-capped mountains, and the twin suns in the orange sky were overwhelmingly familiar. He squatted on the grass for a moment, arms wrapped around himself. _“This can’t be,”_ he thought. _“Something very very bad is going to happen unless I get out of here. Now.”_ He stood up and screamed at the top of his lungs, fueled by both his hearts. “RIVER!!! COME BACK HERE THIS SECOND! THIS IS BAD. VERY, VERY BAD. REAVER BAD. COME BACK NOW!!!”

            “Don't yell," River said quietly, appearing from behind the TARDIS. “I took you home.”

            “You- how- you flew the TARDIS here?! How could you possibly have done that?”

            “Common sense,” she answered. "I thought you’d like to go home.” She began to shrink into herself.

            The Doctor sighed heavily. He took a deep breath. “River, I can’t go back in my own personal timeline. The entire universe could collapse.”

            “What’s a personal timeline?” River asked.

            “I’m surprised you don’t know, given that you seem to know everything else about me,” the Doctor snapped. He sighed again. “My personal timeline is any place in space and time that I’ve been before. I can’t interfere with something I’ve already done. I can't be here. Imagine going home but no one’s there to greet you and yours is the only house left and it's empty. An empty house on an empty planet. An empty house you can't go inside or the world will fall apart. We have to leave now, River. NOW.”

            “No." said River, sounding very sad. " Look."

            The Doctor looked around again and realized he and River were quite alone. He paused for a moment to take in his surroundings. Definitely Gallifrey. But everything was slightly different. Something to do with the trees. They were smaller, much sparser than he remembered. Then there was the air. It smelled of Gallifrey and not Gallifrey.

            “Oh," he said. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This is Gallifrey thousands of years before I was born.” He stopped to take it in. “You're right. This isn't just before my time. This is before Time Lords." He paused. "It's so beautiful. And we destroyed it."

            River suddenly make a loud snorting noise. She was curled up into a little ball next to the TARDIS and sobbing. The Doctor was ashamed to realize he’d been thinking only of himself.

            “Shhhh. It's ok. You were very kind to take me here. It's just so sad," he said to River while he looked at his home. “Very sad,” he added in a barely audible whisper. He slumped his back against the TARDIS and sat down next to River.

            “Why?” she whispered.

            “Because the storm is coming to ruin everything, to turn this planet into one huge fortress. Because of a never-ending war with the Daleks. So many will die: my friends, my family, every single Time Lord but me will die. And it will all be for nothing. No one wins. Everyone’s planets are destroyed. I’m the last Time Lord in existence. Just before Gallifrey exploded, just before the planet burst open and disappeared, I stole a TARDIS. I stood in the doorway and watched my home explode. Then I traveled as fast and as far away in space and time as I could." The Doctor took one last look at the stunning beauty of Gallifrey.

            “If you're clever enough to fly my TARDIS on your own and avoid my personal time line, why would you take me to the one place in the universe I can’t stand? Why would I want to see all this beauty and glory, before we destroyed it? Before I helped destroy it. Before,” the Doctor stopped and thought about River’s memories.

            “It’s like being on one of the Alliance planets, just after it was terraformed. It’s beautiful, it’s empty, it’s where you want to spend your life. But the Alliance takes over, controls the planet, and tries to kill anyone who opposes them. Your home turns into a battleground. The Academy shatters your brilliant brain into a thousand tiny pieces as it tries to understand you, to use you, to figure out how your brain would work without this piece. Or that one. Would you really want to go back to the beginning of that planet? No matter how brilliant it was? Would you want to walk in that beauty, knowing what would happen?”

            River began to shake. “Anger,” she said. “Anger and hate. Anger and hate. I’ve met you too late. TOO LATE!!!"

            “Not one second too late,” the Doctor said in a simple, manner of fact voice. He put his arm around her shoulder. “I’m not letting go of you, River, so don’t even ask.”

            “Two by two, hands of blue. Two by two, hands of blue,” she whispered.

            The Doctor didn't understand her words, but he saw a mental image of River while the Academy cut open her brain. He saw her terror, and the Academy’s fury when Simon had rescued her. He couldn’t see her future, and didn’t know if he wanted to.

            “I can look into your mind again,” he said. “If it’s too hard to talk about.”

            “No! No no no no no no no no no. No no no no no--”

            The Doctor gently placed a finger on River’s mouth. The other hand held her close. “I promise I will never look at anything you don’t want me to see. You can have as much privacy as you like. Just close the things you don’t want me to see behind doors. You don’t even have to lock them. I’ve done it before. It works. I see a closed door, I walk right past. OK?”

            “No," River repeated. "Go away." She sounded small and insignificant.

            “Shhh,” the Doctor said, smoothing River’s hair. “That’s not going to happen. I won't make you do anything you don't want to. I'll never let you get hurt again. I promise."

            River looked frightened and unsure.

            The Doctor smiled and said “Pinky promise.”

            “What?”

            The Doctor blushed and turned away for a moment. When he turned back, he took River’s hand and linked his pinkie finger with hers. River smiled.

            "That's better," the Doctor said. "Pinkie promises are the best kind." He ushered them both back into the TARDIS. River ran straight under the console.

            “Are you ok?” she asked, from the safety of under the console.

            “I’m always ok,” he answered with a fake cheerfulness which he was sure River could see right through if she chose to. In fact, she couldn’t help it. She thought _"I know you’re not ok but I’ll make it worse if I make you talk about it so I’ll leave you alone. I know how you feel and I won’t hurt you either."_

            "I know you won't," the Doctor said, not even realizing he had heard her thoughts.

            “Anywhere special you’d like to go?” he asked River, playing around with the console buttons.

            “I'd like to see Earth that was,” said a muffled voice from under the counter.

            "Earth that--oh. Right," said the Doctor, beginning to fiddle with some buttons on the console. “I've got the perfect place in mind." He pressed more buttons and levers and put her on autopilot. The engine tube began to move up and down, and the usual noises began as the TARDIS started moving.

            “Molto bene,” the Doctor said, taking in the familiar surroundings and very glad to be flying away. “Listen to that purr," he said, right before the TARDIS clanked loudly and veered hard to the right. The Doctor quickly corrected course, patting the console as the ship quieted down. "She's happy to see us,” he bent over and told River. "She gets lonely if I'm gone too long."

            “How can a ship be lonely?” River asked.

            “I’d have thought you’d have figured that out by now. A TARDIS isn’t built. It’s grown. She's alive.”

            River came out from under the console with a beaming smile, looking happier than the Doctor had ever seen her. He smiled back, as he realized he had found his new companion.


	3. Tall Buildings, Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A blue wooden box (TARDIS) lands inside Serenity, a firefly airship. The Doctor and River find they can read each others' minds. As they begin to forge a friendship, they are forced by circumstances to flee Serenity in the TARDIS.
> 
> Summary of firefly characters, for those who need it.
> 
> firefly: a post-apocalyptic tv show set after "Earth that was" [our earth] was decimated. New world is dominated by "The Alliance" and rebels. Firefly is a rebel ship.  
> Malcolm Reynolds: Captain of Serenity. Tough but good. Values his ship and crew above all else.  
> Jayne Cobbe: Mercenary. Crew? Loves guns and artillery. Values his well-being above all else.  
> Kaylee Frye: Ship engineer. Very sweet, kind, good.  
> Hoban "Wash" Washburne: Ship pilot. Funny and good. Married to Zooey.  
> Zooey Washburne: Captain's Second in Command. Tough but good. Married to Wash.  
> Simon Tam: Doctor/ship medic. River's brother. Born Alliance but now rebel harboring fugitive.  
> River Tam: Mega-genius; tortured and broken by Alliance. Born Alliance. Now rebel fugitive.  
> Derrial "Book": Preacher highly regarded by Alliance.  
> Inara Serra: Socially elite "companion" (respected call girl)

Given the discomfort of their previous destination, the Doctor and River spent the trip separately. The Doctor curled up in a chair that looked as old as him, and read his blue book from the other River. River Song. He'd come to the end and the beginning many times, making for bittersweet reading. River Tam, whom he'd come to think of "his River," was busy making a complete mess of his storage system; the cartons full of priceless relics.

First she removed all the cartons, covering the floor and turning walking into a hazardous labyrinthine task. The Doctor excelled at labyrinths, but he was content to sit back and read. River studied the contents of each carton, thought for a while, and neatly wrote a rune-like symbol next to each letter the Doctor had scrawled. She repeated this for all twenty-four cartons, finding enough to keep her fascinated for years. But this was not a studying project. It was an organizing project. When she was finished with her labeling, she put each carton back in its place. It just didn't happen to be the place corresponding to the alphanumeric cataloging system the Doctor had always planned on using. From time to time he checked on her progress, curious and also concerned that she might strain her back. He needn't have worried. River could have easily borne the weight of all twenty-four cartons at once, had it been practical or necessary. It was neither.

River stood back and surveyed her finished work. She thought about rearranging one or two cartons, then decided they were best left as they were. She silently approached the Doctor and read over his shoulder for a while. Most of the book was in shorthand but she effortlessly learned and transcribed the contents as she read. She found the book fascinating, but the Doctor was reading it too slowly. She knew he could finish it in a few minutes if he wanted to. He was obviously pausing to reminisce. River didn't understand that word. She knew its meaning, of course, but she could not comprehend why anyone would want to relive their life in their mind. There was not comfort to be found thinking back on her time at the Academy, and although she was a happy child before she left to study, the memory made her as sad as the Academy made her angry.

After a while she lost patience with the Doctor's meanderings and said, a bit louder than she'd intended, "hurry up and turn the page." The Doctor literally jumped, then looked at River and said "Didn't your parents teach you any manners? It's rude to read over someone's shoulder."

"No." 

"Let me guess," replied the Doctor. "You read so quickly that no one has ever been able to read over your shoulder without your turning the pages too soon."

River just stared at the Doctor.

"Who's River Song?" she asked. "You thought about her on Serenity, too."

"No one you need concern yourself with. She was mostly involved with my next regeneration anyway."

River remained silent for several minutes. "I don't understand regeneration," she finally said.

"And there's no reason you should," the Doctor replied quickly. "I see you've organized my cartons for me. Thank you."

"I didn't do it for you," River replied. "I couldn't stand the chaos."

The Doctor looked at the cartons and saw they were no more organized than usual. Less so, because he remembered the location of cartons he frequently revisited. "These are organized?" he asked, just to be sure. "The TARDIS usually translates for me, and since we're currently inside, she can only translate English. Which isn't really necessary because we both speak English, but I like to cut her some slack. Would you mind telling me the system you used? In case I need to find something someday?"

"Oh," River responded dejectedly. "I thought you'd know."

"Nope. Doesn't mean a thing to me," he said, then hastened to add "but I really do appreciate the effort. What language did you use?" he asked.

"Enochian. The language of the angels of the Earth that was. It's a beautiful and logical language," she added. "Excellent for organization. I'm surprised you don't know it."

"Never had the need," he replied.. 

"You don't like it, do you?" she asked. "I can change it back to how it was or I can alphabetize it in English."

"It's fine," said the Doctor, staring at a gauge on the console. "I don't think that dial should be pointing to"

River stopped listening and retired to her usual place under the console. People had liked her before she went to the Academy. It seemed that in addition to everything else they'd done to her, now she frightened people away, as if she were a freak. "Maybe I am a freak," she thought. "Of course I am. Only Simon knows what I was like as just River." Next minute she was bouncing up and hitting the underside of the top of the console with her head, as the TARDIS landed with its usual energetic bump.

"Ouch!" she said from underneath the console.

The Doctor bent uncomfortably as he stuck his head under the circular railing. "You ok?" he asked.

River looked at him as if he were an idiot. He helped her out as she rubbed her head.

"We've landed," he said, with both excitement and trepidation. He grabbed his coat from a countertop that looked like a stove with seven burners, none of which were connected to a source of heat. "Allons-y!" he cried, running toward the door. "Hello Earth that--. Oh. I seem to have mis-calibrated my landing. I think you should stay in the-" River pushed past him before he could finish talking.

"I'm sorry," he said, staring at the twin reflecting ponds, etched with the names of those who had died on 9/11. "I'm so so sorry."

River ignored him. She stared straight ahead, her normally almond shaped eyes two brown moons. She looked through the memorial as if it weren't there. "NO!" she screamed, shaking and crying and screaming. "No no no no no!" She turned toward the Doctor. "Is that what destroyed Earth that Was?" she asked, shaking and crying.

"I don't think so," the Doctor answered, wishing he'd brought them anywhere but here. 

River shrieked. "Again??!!!" Of course again, she thought. "Two by two in the sky of blue." Fire!" she screamed aloud. "The sky is on fire!" she screamed as she saw the buildings collapse. "They're jumping into of the sky! Tiny people jumping into the sky and falling and" her voice turned into a scream. She stood, shivering, watching the horror that was as real to her as if she were watching it happen. She was watching it happen. She screamed and screamed, her face distorted with terror as she stared at what looked like a beautifully landscaped park. She turned and looked at the Doctor. "Why would you bring me here? Is all of Earth that Was like this?"

"I didn't mean to bring you here, River. And no. It's not all like this. Earth is my favorite planet. I meant to take you to a lovely old building, still standing. With an extraordinary," The Doctor stopped. He could see his words were not penetrating River, who stood frozen in place. "I could erase this from your memory," he said, putting a hand on River's shoulder.

"NO! You can't erase what happened just because I won't remember it and I'll dream about it at night and wake up screaming and I won't know why and I hate Earth that Was. I'm glad it's dead."

River sat down on the concrete, held her head in her hands, and sobbed. The Doctor covered her with his coat, squatted down behind her and held her. They stayed that way for a long time.


	4. Tall Buildings Falling, Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A blue wooden box (TARDIS) lands inside Serenity, a firefly airship. The Doctor and River find they can read each others' minds. As they begin to forge a friendship, they are forced by circumstances to flee Serenity in the TARDIS.
> 
> Summary of firefly characters, for those who need it.
> 
> firefly: a post-apocalyptic tv show set after "Earth that was" [our earth] was decimated. New world is dominated by "The Alliance" and rebels. Firefly is a rebel ship.  
> Malcolm Reynolds: Captain of Serenity. Tough but good. Values his ship and crew above all else.  
> Jayne Cobbe: Mercenary. Crew? Loves guns and artillery. Values his well-being above all else.  
> Kaylee Frye: Ship engineer. Very sweet, kind, good.  
> Hoban "Wash" Washburne: Ship pilot. Funny and good. Married to Zooey.  
> Zooey Washburne: Captain's Second in Command. Tough but good. Married to Wash.  
> Simon Tam: Doctor/ship medic. River's brother. Born Alliance but now rebel harboring fugitive.  
> River Tam: Mega-genius; tortured and broken by Alliance. Born Alliance. Now rebel fugitive.  
> Derrial "Book": Preacher highly regarded by Alliance.  
> Inara Serra: Socially elite "companion" (respected call girl)

After a while, squatting on the sidewalk with River began to hurt the Doctor's knees. _"Blimey, I'm getting old, even for a Time Lord,"_ he thought, disliking the implications _._ The temperature dropped as the sun fell lower in the sky.  The TARDIS had always adjusted the local climate as well as the atmosphere and the language. The Doctor had  never needed any more or less  than his suits and trainers, but he now really wanted his coat back. He was cold _. "This is strange. Really strange. Really really really strange,"_ he pondered as he shivered _. " So this is what weather feels like,"_ he thought, not impressed. _"I wonder if it's the TARDIS or me. I'll have check the temperature sensor. Good thing it's not the atmospheric sensor that blew or I'd be dead."_ This did not alleviate the discomfort of feeling cold.

 River was wearing many layers of clothing, topped by the huge red sweater. The Doctor was wearing only his shirt and suit. However, he thought River had been through enough today. He could at least spare her the indignity of snatching his coat back from her shoulders. Cold didn't feel especially dangerous. Just uncomfortable. Besides, while unpleasant, feeling the weather was new. The Doctor liked new. He sighed. _"Besides, no point in delaying the inevitable,"_ he thought.

River stood up, took off the Doctor's coat, and gave it to him. He had to admit that he envied River's physic powers.

"Don't," she said. "You don't know what comes with them."

"No, I suppose I don't," he replied, thinking of all the companions he had lost over the years. He put on his coat and said "I love this coat. Janis Joplin gave it to me.  That woman could really belt one out. Pretty good at belching, too," he said, smiling briefly at the memory. "Anyhow. Any high, any low, any who, any how," He stopped himself. Words had lost their usual playful appeal. "I installed a Serenity tracker on the TARDIS before we left your ship. Very lucky that the engine lady had a hole in her pocket. Anything from Serenity would do ... Well. If we're lucky, I can find Serenity and take you home in a jiffy."

River stared at the Doctor as if he had gone mad.

"Why would I want that?" she asked.

"Well, I assumed, given your reaction..." the Doctor replied, letting his voice trail off. This girl really had an uncanny ability to embarrass him.

"You assumed wrong. Unless you want to get rid of damaged goods," she answered.

"I'm damaged goods too, you know," the Doctor said quietly. River stared at him inscrutably. "If you still want to, I can show you a much happier tall building," the Doctor said.

"Buildings don't have emotions," said River.

"Weelll, in any case, are you up for another tall building? I mean, one that's still tall. Still standing is what I mean." The Doctor was becoming increasingly cross with himself for being so tongue-tied around River.  She had a way of seeing the world slightly sideways, which interfered with his straight-ahead view of life. The Doctor interpreted her silence as assent.

"This building is 443 meters tall at the top of the spire. Did you know the spire was built as a landing spot for dirigibles? I'd have thought they'd spring a hole, and even if they didn't, how would the passengers disembark? And why would they want to? Blimey it's cold and slippery up there. Four hundred meters is not what I'd choose as a suitable height for holding onto with one hand and turning myself into a Time Lord Gamma ray conductor. Anyhow," the Doctor interrupted himself,

"How would you like to travel?" he asked. "If we take Broadway and Fifth Avenue, that's 4.8280 kilometers, which should take about 61 minutes unless we stop and look at the shops.. Lots of shops on Fifth Avenue. Fancy shops. Actually, if you want to know the truth, I hate Fifth Avenue. Too pretentious. But if you want to see shops, Fifth Avenue is definitely the way to go.  Or, we could go east onto Broadway for a while, which would be 4.9889 kilometers, and would add an extra minute. I haven't been there since, well, since ever, so I can't tell you much about that route. Or, we could veer west onto 6th Avenue, not so many shops. That would be 5.1499 kilometers, which would take"

"An hour and five minutes," River said, sounding exasperated.

"Very good," said the Doctor. He immediately wished he could take back the words; he hadn't realized how pedantic he'd sounded until they came out of his mouth.  He looked off into the distance to avoid making eye contact with River. "Personally, I think that route three is a waste of four perfectly good minutes. Then of course, we could take the combination route: walk, bus, and subway, which is only 24 minutes, But my memory of the subway is that it's the opposite of Fifth Avenue. Dirty, smelly, and chewed gum all over the floors," he continued. "Nasty stuff, chewed gum. Sticky. Gets on the soles of your shoes and impossible to get off."

The Doctor turned and faced River. "So, what do you think?" he asked.

"Can we take the TARDIS?"

"Right," he said as he mentally kicked himself for not making that suggestion." The sun won't set for another 57 minutes, and three o'clock in the morning is absolutely the best time to arrive. The TARDIS would save us time both, in distance and space. We'd save-"

"Ten hours," said River. "Seriously," she said, exasperated.

The Doctor brightened considerably as he began to fiddle with the TARDIS. "Let's see. Four kilometers at three o'clock." He moved a few levers, readjusted one of them, and bent down to look at River. "Ready to go?" he asked.  No answer. "Well, then, allons-y!" the Doctor said with a little less enthusiasm than usual.. The TARDIS thought about jumping around a bit, thought the better of it, and landed smoothly, without seeming to have taken off in the first place. "Brilliant trip," the Doctor said. "I barely felt her take off or land. I wonder why she doesn't always run so smoothly?" he mused.

"The emergency brake was stuck," said River. "I fixed it."

"When did you have time to, well, never mind. Prepare yourself for one of the most extraordinary buildings in New York. He approached  the TARDIS door. "You're going to love this," he said, starting to open the door. "The most amazing," he said as he flung the door open. "Wall?" The Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver at the material that was blocking the door. "A marble wall. An impenetrable marble wall. How do I get past an impenetrable marble wall? Think think think think think!" he said.

River sighed as she got out from underneath the console, shut the door, and took the TARDIS on a very short trip. She opened the door into a huge room. The TARDIS was parked with its back against the wall. She turned around to face the Doctor.

"Oh!" the Doctor said, smiling at River. "We're in the lobby.  And what are lobbies famous for?"  The doctor paused for dramatic effect. "Walls!"

River gave him a strange look.

"Oh no!" the Doctor cried. River looked at him with concern. "They've moved the gift shop. I love gift shops," he continued, remorsefully.

"If they've moved it then it has to exist somewhere else," River said , in an attempt to console the Doctor.

"Right  you are," the Doctor said. "Besides, we have much more interesting places to explore."

The Doctor ushered River over to the lifts. He read the sign for the upper observation deck on 102nd. floor. The elevators stopped running at 2:45 AM.

"Well, we're not going to let a lift stop us, eh" he told  River. "This isn't breaking and entering, because we've already entered and haven't broken a thing," He pointed the sonic screwdriver at the lift, adjusted a few settings, and the doors opened. The buttons stopped at 102. He pressed the top one, and the lift took off.

"We're not actually going to the 102th floor observation deck," he told River. "This is just the easiest way to get to our destination." The ride was smooth, but River looked slightly green. "Almost there," said the Doctor, noticing her definitely ill color. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"Alliance lifts," she replied.

At that moment the lift stopped and the doors opened. "102nd floor. Not many  people on the 102nd this time of day."

He took River's hand. "Follow me," he said, pulling her rather quickly.

"Stop pulling" River complained. "I'll toss you over."

The Doctor stopped. "Really?" he asked, making it sound like a statement. "I don't think I'd get very far," he said, pointing at the large birdcage shaped wire fence for the floor beneath. "It's built especially so people can't get out, but I'm pretty sure I could get foothold and use the sonic to break a bar and jump in."

"That's not the point," said River, a bit petulantly.

The Doctor grabbed River's hand more tightly. "Patience, patience, little firecracker."

River laughed. "Grasshopper, you dummy."

"That's more like it," the Doctor replied. "Whoa, stop. We're here."

They were standing in front of a metal door. The Doctor found the door locked.

"Just checking," he said, pointing the sonic at the door. River pulled it out of  his hand, took a breath, and shoved her shoulder against the door. It opened. Pieces of lock fell noisily on the ground.

"That's a solid metal door," the Doctor said slowly, stopping at each word. He bent down and put the broken pieces in his coat pocket. "Don't want to litter," he explained, a bit lamely.

The stairway was dark. They both felt around for light switches, to no avail.

"Suivez moi, mademoiselle," the Doctor said, turning the light on the sonic screwdriver to bright. It wasn't very bright. But the stairs weren't very long. "Ready?" he asked, pushing the door open.

"Oh, we must have landed years ago," he said. "Did you do that intentionally?" River just stared at him. "They've put up an extra railing since; it's not nearly as much fun. This is absolutely the perfect moment in time and space to be at this particular location. We're very lucky," the Doctor said, staring at River's face. "Very lucky indeed."

Instead of fancy flooring and a complex wall of metal posts that curved at the top to prevent jumping, they saw an almost uninterrupted view of the city at night. It was beautiful beyond comprehension. NYC knew no night or day, and there were so many overlapping lights  they were overwhelmed by the sight. Randomly placed lights of all colors seemed strung together, like a giant Christmas tree decorated with a lovely but decidedly crooked string of lights. River let herself bask in the strange beauty and didn't attempt to understand it. The concrete wall surrounding them was about mid-thigh height for the Doctor,  and not much more than 40 cm wide. The view was virtually uninterrupted.

"Listen," said the Doctor.

"I don't hear anything," answered River.

"Exactly. it's completely quiet up here." They both stood very still, taking in the silence. After a while, the Doctor broke the spell with "You won't hear New York  this quiet anywhere else. And the view. Reminds me of the citadel on Gallifrey." The two remained silent a bit longer, out of respect for the long-gone planet that had been the Doctor's home.

"Simon used to say that vertical views were nothing more than parallax tipped on its side, and the only reason we find them frightening is that our minds can't comprehend what we see. Simon always says," River paused for a minute. "Simon says ... do this!"

River leapt onto the top of the narrow wall and began doing perfect cartwheels along the circular wall.

"Whoo," she said after four or five cartwheels. Her face was nearly bisected by her smile. The Doctor's face was green; he looked like he was about to throw up. He personally wasn't afraid of heights, but he only took chances when he needed to. River, on the other hand, while undeniably having a good time, would slip and fall if she so much as landed on fresh bird droppings. She was simultaneously electrifying and terrifying.

The Doctor didn't want to try to force her down; it wasn't his right, and he might well push them both over the edge in the process. He found himself unable to just stand and wait for her, so, looking rather foolish, he ran after her,  staying a bit behind after he'd caught up. He did *not* want to startle her.

River was as beautiful as the destruction of Gallifrey was terrible. The quiet, strange, broken girl shone with pure delight. Not just her face-splitting smile, but her entire body was shining. The Doctor couldn't interfere with such perfect synchronicity. He had previously considered himself not only the most clever, but the most gracefully daring being in the universe. River was rapidly proving him wrong. He was overwhelmed with emotions as he ran behind her: terror, awe, jealousy, joy, and maybe, though he'd forgotten what it felt like, maybe a tiny bit of love.

Suddenly he felt River's arms around him, felt her heart racing against his hearts, and was simultaneously overwhelmed with gratitude and a tiny bit of disappointment that  the show was over.

"How did you do that?!" the Doctor asked.

River looked at him as if her were an imbecile and said "Gravity. Gravity and balance."

"You could have fallen off and died!" the Doctor nearly shouted.

"But I didn't," said River.

"I wouldn't toy with life like that," the Doctor responded. "I love life. Life's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Life's the only thing that's ever happened to you," said River.

"You've got a point there."

"Besides I'd have only ended up on the safety gate one flight down," River pointed out. "You said it was easy to break a bar and jump to safety."

"Blimey, you're the only person I've ever met who's as clever me. It's very flusterating." the Doctor said.

"That's not a word," River answered.

"Yes it is. It's a perfectly fine word. Flusterating, flusterbrating, fluffernutter. They're all perfectly brilliant words." the Doctor proclaimed. "Well, maybe not fluffernutter. It tastes too nasty to be brilliant."

"I like you. You're like me but inside out," said River. She gave the Doctor a little pat and he lost his balance, ending up stepping on River's toe.

"Ow! Damn!" she cried.

"Don't swear," said the Doctor.

River sighed and said "Gorram," instead.

"What does gorram mean?" asked the Doctor.

"Goddamn," River replied.

"Don't swear!" repeated the Doctor.

"I was explaining the meaning of gorram," River said. "That's not swearing."

"Don't. Swear," repeated the Doctor. He looked at River and started laughing. In a moment, River joined him.

He was still winding down when River started speaking quietly. So quietly that he was afraid at first he wouldn't be able to hear her over the noise of the city, until he remembered there was no noise of the city. The observation deck was still completely silent. No sound or even breeze whatsoever.

"I used to love to dance when I was younger," River said. "Before the Academy." My mother tried putting me in a dance class, but I had to leave,  It took everyone so long to learn the steps, and all I had to do was watch once. So I danced at home. I tried to convince Simon to dance with me but he's horrible at it. Can you dance?" she asked the Doctor.

"I don't know. I think so."

"Dance with me," River said. "To this," she added as she sang a melody in a lovely, clear voice.

The Doctor fiddled with his sonic screwdriver and soon "Moonlight Serenade" by the Glenn Miller Orchestra was playing from the walls, from the floor, from the very building itself. The Doctor discovered he _could_ dance, and he and River danced around the building to Moonlight Serenade until River lifted the Doctor almost over her head. They smiled, River with pure delight and the Doctor with wonder at  how this tiny girl could lift him so high, hold him up, and then set him down so gently he barely noticed.

They sat on the ground, backs against the wall, looked at the view and listened to the music. Soon River begin to nod off. The Doctor turned off the music and carried her down the stairs to the 102nd floor. He rather awkwardly aimed the sonic at the lift door. River sprung down and followed him.

"Why did you press 80?" she asked.

"Gift shop," the Doctor answered with a conspiratorial grin.

The lift stopped and opened opposite a glass-walled gift shop. Department store would be a better term.

"Look!," the Doctor said. "There it is! The gift shop! Wonder why they put it here," he said, putting on his glasses and squinting through the glass wall. "They probably have little figures of the Empire State Building. Oh! They do!"

"Don't steal," said River.

"Well, I could borrow it. Come back yesterday and put it back."

"That would be crossing your personal time line," River said.

"Indeed it would," the Doctor responded. "Do you have any money? I've never really understood about money."

"I have some money but it's not from Earth that Was," she replied.

"Should be fine. Probably worth more than the entire stock. It's money from the future you know," the Doctor said, aiming the sonic at the glass door and very gently opening it.

The gift shop was pretty much like any local attraction gift shop, only bigger. There were Empire State Buliding figurines of all sizes, Do-it-yourself Empire State Building construction sets, a wide variety of Empire State building mugs, glasses, shot glasses, plates, books, globes, key chains, magnets, even clothing and Hello Kitties.

The Doctor looked around and made a beeline toward a "vintage" Empire State Building pocket watch. It reminded him of a  pocket watch that had held his identity as a Time Lord which he'd used when he had to hide out as a human.

He asked River what she'd like, and she very shyly picked up a lovely globe dome paperweight.

"This?" she asked.

"Sure, if that's what you want. You don't need my permission; I'm creatively exchanging my pocket watch too. With your money. By rights I should ask you." He looked more closely at River's choice "Nice globe. Good choice. This seems to be where you pay. How much money do you think we should leave?"

River looked at the price tags. One was $19.99, the other $26.99.

"Fifty dollars?" she asked. "Maybe an extra ten for tax?"

"Do you have that much money?" the Doctor asked.

River reached into her  pocket and came up with a large wad of crumpled bills. She counted out $60 and still had a lot leftover. The Doctor found a pad of Empire State Building paper for sale, and used it to write "Hello. We've bought a pocket watch and a globe dome paperweight.  We hope this money will cover the cost. -- the Doctor and River." He set the note and the money on the counter, and secured them with another paperweight.

"All set?" he asked.

River nodded.

The Doctor used the sonic to carefully lock the gift shop door behind them and the main door after they took the lift down and left. The morning sun was beginning to rise.

"You know what I'd like right now? A big cup of coffee," he announced.

Rive scrunched her nose in dislike.

"Really?" the Doctor asked. "I thought everyone liked coffee."

"It's horrible," River said. "Tastes like mud and warm water."

"Well, New York is full of delicious coffee shops. Just wait. You'll be amazed."

"Will they be open this early?" River asked.

"Ah, New York City is always open."

The Doctor took River's hand and left the Empire State Building, in pursuit of coffee.


	5. New York - The City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A blue wooden box (TARDIS) lands inside Serenity, a firefly airship. The Doctor and River find they can read each others' minds. As they begin to forge a friendship, they are forced by circumstances to flee Serenity in the TARDIS.
> 
> Summary of firefly characters, for those who need it.
> 
> firefly: a post-apocalyptic tv show set after "Earth that was" [our earth] was decimated. New world is dominated by "The Alliance" and rebels. Firefly is a rebel ship.  
> Malcolm Reynolds: Captain of Serenity. Tough but good. Values his ship and crew above all else.  
> Jayne Cobbe: Mercenary. Crew? Loves guns and artillery. Values his well-being above all else.  
> Kaylee Frye: Ship engineer. Very sweet, kind, good.  
> Hoban "Wash" Washburne: Ship pilot. Funny and good. Married to Zooey.  
> Zooey Washburne: Captain's Second in Command. Tough but good. Married to Wash.  
> Simon Tam: Doctor/ship medic. River's brother. Born Alliance but now rebel harboring fugitive.  
> River Tam: Mega-genius; tortured and broken by Alliance. Born Alliance. Now rebel fugitive.  
> Derrial "Book": Preacher highly regarded by Alliance.  
> Inara Serra: Socially elite "companion" (respected call girl)

The Doctor parked the TARDIS outside the Empire State Building. "We were lucky not to have encountered any security guards," he told River. "I'd just as soon keep it that way. Although psychic paper works wonders, I always say better safe than sorry."

"Paper that's psychic?" asked River, confused.

The Doctor laughed. "No, it's not the actual paper that's psychic. It's, well, I suppose it's what I want the person reading it to see. Unless they're psychic, in which case they just see the paper. That's oxymoronic, that psychic paper doesn't work on psychic people. Oxymoronic. That's the first and last time I'm going to use that word. Makes me sound like a moron. What was I talking about? Oh right. Psychic paper. Right. Most people see whatever they expect to see. It's brilliant for getting into invitation-only events, military bases, even secret research laboratories, though I doubt it would do much good at that Alliance Academy," he said. "See?" he said, showing it to River. Blank paper in a wallet. She was not impressed.

"Nothing, eh?" he asked.

"Paper is something," River replied. "You can use it to make a bird."

"Or a hat," the Doctor replied immediately, grinning.

"Airplane," River said without pause.

"Drawing."

"Writing."

"Bookmark."

"Anything," River finished.

"Anything? A glass citadel?" the Doctor asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Leave it blank and you can see anything you want. A glass citadel, or a glass of water." River looked at the Doctor and favored him with another smile. "That was fun," she said. "I've had more fun with you than I've had since the NOOOOOO!" she screamed. A yellow car with a light on the top was racing toward a young mother crossing the street with her baby in a stroller. The mother was looking down at a small device and tapping it repeatedly with the fingers of one hand while she rather unsteadily pushed her baby's stroller with the other hand.

River seemed to fly into the street and shove the mother and child toward the sidewalk, missing the cab herself by inches. The driver slammed the accelerator and sped toward a red light. The baby began screaming as the mother slowly realized what had happened. She joined her daughter on the curb, screaming "Oh God. Oh my God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh my God." River shrank into a doorway and whispered "no no no no no no no," into her hair.

Everything seemed to be happening at once, both in slow motion and way too quickly. The Doctor aimed the sonic screwdriver at the taxi, which suddenly stopped under the red light. He ran across the street. Who to help first? Babies cry all the time, and this one wouldn't stop till her mother stopped screaming. He stepped in front of the mother and said "shhhhh," as he put a hand on each side of her head. In moments she stopped crying, and bent over the stroller to calm her baby. She didn't seem to notice the Doctor at all.

A crowd had begun to gather, shouting over each other. The air was filled with tension; a serious altercation could erupt at any time.

"Someone should put that women in jail for texting in the street with a baby in a stroller."

"That cab driver just plowed ahead like he didn't even see them."

"He looked Middle Eastern. Maybe he was _trying_ to hit her and blow them all up with a suicide bomb."

"That's a stupid thing to say, bigot."

"Oi! Quiet!" shouted the Doctor. Suddenly everyone was silent. "Good. Now just go about whatever you were doing," he ordered, and everyone did just that. An older woman comforted the young mother. The baby screamed at the sound of approaching sirens. Her mother took her out of the stroller and held her tightly to her chest, which seemed to do nothing to soothe the baby but probably made her mother feel better.

The Doctor walked over to River, who was crying and still whispering "no" under her breath. He bent down and took both her hands, pulling her up and out of the doorway. She threw her arms around him in a bear hug.

"Pretty fast move there," said the Doctor. River didn't respond. "More than fast, rather extraordinary. Amazing. Stupendous. Brilliant." No answer.

Several police cars had stopped at different angles, blocking traffic. Another cruiser was stopped by the taxi. The Doctor knew that River was in no shape for the coffee he had promised her earlier, what felt like weeks earlier now. He took River's hand and walked quickly down a side street, pulling them into a small shop with an oriental rug hanging on the door. They could hear quiet rhythmic chanting music filling the store, which smelled of incense and herbs. A dark-skinned woman in a colorful printed sari studied River and the Doctor.

"Come," she said, turning the sign on the door to "Closed" and locking it behind her. They walked through layers of the softest silk scarves, hung closely together and smelling strongly of various herbs. The proprietor opened a plain white door at the back of the store and ushered them in. "Sit," she said, pointing at a few small wooden unmatched chairs around a small table. The table, the chairs, the walls, everything seemed to be wrapped in sweet smelling soft silk. The owner turned on an electric burner with a kettle on top, studied a shelf of unlabeled jars of tea leaves, and poured a mixture of two or three into an old porcelain teapot. She poured the boiling water over the tea leaves, put the lid back to let the tea steep, and set two teacups on the table. Each had a different design, covered with finely hand-painted pictures of Hindu gods and goddess, some with four arms, some with elephant trunks, some with blue faces, all wearing crowns that looked like they were painted with real gold.

The shopkeeper took River's hand and traced the lines of her palm until the tea was ready to pour. Each cup contained several tea leaves covered with greenish tea, which tasted slightly of pineapple. They drank their tea in comfortable silence. When they were finished, the proprietor smiled and ushered them back through the door into the main store. She whispered something to River, smoothed her hair, and re-opened the shop.

River and the Doctor thanked the woman and left.

"What did she say to you?" asked the Doctor.

"I can't tell you," said River.

"Oh, well, then if it's private, I totally understand," the Doctor answered.

"No, I really can't tell you. It wasn't words. It was like part of a song, a song of an elephant? Maybe I can show you on that paper you have. The paper that's psychic."

"Psychic paper, " said the Doctor, taking the billfold out of his jacket pocket. "And the paper itself really isn't psychic. Here," he handed River the opened leather cover with the psychic paper. She stared at it for a long time.

"There," she finally said. "Can you see it?"

The Doctor frowned, put on his glasses, scratched his head and frowned some more. He squinted at the paper, almost touching it with his nose, then held it at arm's length.

"That's odd. I've never looked at psychic paper myself, just shown it to other people. I can hear the woman whispering in your ear. I can smell her sari, her breath. I can picture her face, a bit stout, she was, and hear her sari swish, but I can't see anything on the paper. Well, of course, I can see the paper, but it's just white. Well, to be precise, it's always white but I think people usually see writing or ID's on the white paper. I never thought about it before. Here I've been using this psychic paper for hundreds of years and I never once tried it on myself. I wonder if that means I'm too clever to be psychic. But you're clever and you're psychic. What was it you saw?" asked the Doctor, finally stopping to take a breath.

River just shook her head and looked sad. She reached out and took the Doctor's hand, which was fast becoming a habit. Without speaking, they both decided to take a break from New York and return to the comfortable crazy safety of the TARDIS.

             ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

"Trees," said River from underneath the console.

"Earth trees. Large flora. Tall pole-y shaped thingies, trunks, with tributary branches growing at more or less right angles from the trunk. Covered with leaves; green in the summer, breathtakingly beautiful in the fall, red, gold, and orange, if you're lucky enough to see them in autumn. That's deciduous trees. Coniferous trees are more like Christmas trees." The Doctor shuddered. "I hate Christmas. Plastic killer Santa Clauses, hostile aliens, never peace on earth like it's supposed to be. Where was I? Right. Trees. Leaves fall off in the winter, grow back in the spring. Lots of fun to jump in, fallen leaves."

"I know what trees are. Are there any in New York?" River asked.

The Doctor slapped his head. "Of course. Lots of trees. A few on the sidewalk, as you've seen, but most of them are in Central Park. Shall we? I'm not certain exactly how many meters it is to the-

"TARDIS."

"Right you are. Just a moment." The Doctor and River took a very small trip to the south end of Central Park, and parked in a thick growth of trees. He made sure to lock the door. "Never can be too careful in New York. We don't want to come back and find the TARDIS full of homeless people sleeping in the beds, and kids running about wreaking havoc. One of them might even accidentally start her up and fly away. Blimey, that would be annoying. She's set to return after a while to her last position, as long as no one touches the console, and of course she's got universal GPS sensors so I always know where she is, but. I'm talking too much. You don't want to hear all this babbling, do you?

Silence.

"Trees everywhere," said the Doctor. "Green summer trees. Lovely creatures, trees. I've always been partial to them myself. Of course they look totally different depending on which planet they live on."

Silence.

"Well, let's take a walk through your trees, shall we?" The Doctor took River's hand and started to walk. He was stopped suddenly by River, who was still holding his hand but not moving.

She was staring at the trees, feeling the rough bark and smooth leaves. "So vibrant. So different from terra-formed trees. I can hear them talking. Terra-formed trees must have never known how to be a real tree," said River, in an uncharacteristically long speech. Eventually she let the Doctor pull her away.

Not being native New Yorkers, River and the Doctor were oblivious to people living in the park and begging. They walked by a man of indeterminate age, sitting on a park bench. His face was covered with whiskers and his eyes streaked with red. He wore a knit hat, a flannel shirt, a huge originally olive green ripped jacket full of bulging pockets, and trousers of no particular color. Filthy socks with signs of their original white stuck out of the outer edges of both sneakers. He had guaranteed to keep the bench all to himself by spreading newspapers and empty takeout bags along either side.

"Hello," the Doctor said, energetically. "You look in need of sartorial assistance."

"Spare change?" asked the man, ignoring or completely confused by the Doctor.

"Sorry?"

"I _said_  spare change?" The man muttered something cantankerous under his breath.

"From what?" asked the Doctor. He and the man on the bench stared at each other, not quite sure what to do next.

"I'm sorry, but what is it that you could possibly ask me to spare change from? Have people decided to try to prevent change, and you'd like help sparing the change from prevention? Or do you want me to prevent change? I'm afraid either of those possibilities are quite impossible," said the Doctor, running his hands vertically through his hair. "In my experience, which is quite a bit longer than most, except of course those who've lived longer than I have, and I don't think many creatures have pulled that off, Sigma Ood, perhaps. I've never seen anything spared from change. Change is a constant. Which I've always found just a teency weency bit bemusing, since you wouldn't think that a constant would be able to change at all. It's all, well, constanty. Prone to unmoving. Always the same. Very boring," the Doctor said as he unconsciously fingered the sonic screwdriver in his pocket.

"If I wanted a lecture on philosophy," said the old man, who didn't seem quite so old anymore, "I'd 've asked for one. I'm starving. And thirsty. You got any spare change so I can eat?"

The Doctor was silent, bemused.

"Money, you idiot!" yelled the man on the bench, who was also starting to look a little bit more formidable.

"Oh," said the Doctor, taking River's hand and backing up a bit. "Sorry. I never quite did get the hang of money," he answered.

"In that suit?" spat the man. "Don't look like you got it dumpster diving." The man tried to construct his mouth into a grin, pointed at River. It didn't quite work. The missing teeth and the multicolored yellow, grey, and black ones that were left didn't seem very friendly.

"I bet you got somethin' to spare, little lady," he said, leering at River.

The doctor took the sonic from his pocket. "Now hold on a minute. There's no call for rudeness."

"Watcha gonna do? Stab me with a screwdriver?" the man snorted. "I'll just see for myself," he said, grabbing River's butt cheek and feeling inside the pocket.

"Oi!" said the Doctor, fiddling quickly with the screwdriver.

Not quickly enough. In apparently no time at all, River had grabbed the man's wrist, tossed him over her head, and threw him to the concrete. He was bloody and sore, but not seriously hurt.

"Uh, well done," the doctor told River, feeling rather embarrassed about the lack of need to protect her.

Meanwhile, the now old and not particularly formidable looking man had begun to get up from the sidewalk. "My sciatica," he groaned. "I oughtta sue the lot o' you."

River placed a boot firmly on his chest, pinning him to the concrete. "I wouldn't," she said. "I believe you've gotten off very lucky. _This time._ "

The man raised his hands in the air, palms up, and said " 'Scuse me, young lady" in an entirely serious tone of voice.

"Weeell," said the Doctor, "we'd best be moving along just about now. How did you _do_ that?!!" he asked River, still a bit amazed. "I was going to stun him with the sonic, but..."

"The Alliance," she whispered. "The Academy. They cut open my brain and turned me into a weapon," her voice trailed off unevenly.

"Oh River," the Doctor said, though it sounded, as always, like "Rivah." "Why would anyone want to do a thing like that?" He sighed. "Same reason there are Daleks and Cybermen, I suppose." He put his arms and River and pulled her close in a tight hug. He could feel her body still vibrating with adrenaline.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

"Only in my mind," she responded. The Doctor sighed and held her for another moment, stroking her long black tangled hair. "I think we need to pay this Academy of yours a visit," he said through gritted teeth.

River pulled away, "No! Don't!" she shouted.

"Ok, ok, little sparrow hawk," said the Doctor, taking her hand and stroking it. "Shhhhh."

After a few moments, River asked "Why sparrow hawk?"

The Doctor grinned. "I just love it when I know something that you don't." He became serious. "A sparrow hawk is a small bird, very intelligent, very each to teach, that's often trained to be a vicious hunter, merely for the entertainment of the falconer. Rather similar, I would think, to what your Alliance has been trying to do to you."

"Not tried. Succeeded," River spoke quietly.

"No, my little sparrow hawk. They've taught you how, but only you can know when and why. What you did to that man was in self-defense. He had no right," the Doctor said, becoming angry again.

"I'd like to see the horse statues," said River, out of nowhere.

"Sorry?"

"You said there are moving horse statues you can ride."

"The carousel?" asked the Doctor.

"The carousel," River confirmed.

"Alrighty then," said the Doctor. "Allons y!"


	6. Central Park - The Carousel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A blue wooden box (TARDIS) lands inside Serenity, a firefly airship. The Doctor and River find they can read each others' minds. As they begin to forge a friendship, they are forced by circumstances to flee Serenity in the TARDIS.
> 
> Summary of firefly characters, for those who need it.
> 
> firefly: a post-apocalyptic tv show set after "Earth that was" [our earth] was decimated. New world is dominated by "The Alliance" and rebels. Firefly is a rebel ship.  
> Malcolm Reynolds: Captain of Serenity. Tough but good. Values his ship and crew above all else.  
> Jayne Cobbe: Mercenary. Crew? Loves guns and artillery. Values his well-being above all else.  
> Kaylee Frye: Ship engineer. Very sweet, kind, good.  
> Hoban "Wash" Washburne: Ship pilot. Funny and good. Married to Zooey.  
> Zooey Washburne: Captain's Second in Command. Tough but good. Married to Wash.  
> Simon Tam: Doctor/ship medic. River's brother. Born Alliance but now rebel harboring fugitive.  
> River Tam: Mega-genius; tortured and broken by Alliance. Born Alliance. Now rebel fugitive.  
> Derrial "Book": Preacher highly regarded by Alliance.  
> Inara Serra: Socially elite "companion" (respected call girl)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I've been taking forever to post this. My muse keeps hiding under the bed and bites when I try to pull her out.
> 
> So here's a short chapter to tide you over.
> 
> I hope you like it.

The Doctor pulled a mobile out of his suit pocket.

"You have a mobile?" River asked, incredulous. 'Why?"

"To talk with people?" he answered, giving River a very strange look.

"But what's the point?" she replied. "It only works on Earth that Was."

"Aha!" the Doctor said. "Something else I know that you don't!" A broad grin of delight lit up his face.

"I used to know everything," River whispered. "But the Alliance broke me. Now I don't know what I know."

The Doctor squeezed River's hand. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm so sorry. But here's where I can help. I know almost everything, and if there's something I don't know, I can easily find out. For example, I altered this phone to work anywhere in this universe. It doesn't work in parallel universes yet," he added, taking the phone out of a pocket. "I altered the GPS chip with the sonic, so I can talk to anyone, any time, anywhere. Within the previous caveat," he added. He put the phone back in his pocket. "I really should give you one of these," he said. Remind me to give you a mobile when we get back to the TARDIS."

River looked thoughtful.

"So," he said, taking out the mobile again. We seem to be quite close to the carousel and the zoo. Your choice, mademoiselle," he said, trying to make a sweeping gesture but ending up tugging River's arm. She tugged him back with apparently no effort at all.

"Whoops," the Doctor said, regaining his balance. "So, where next?"

"Anywhere but the zoo," River said.

The Doctor consulted his mobile and said "we seem to be near the Heckchter playground. Playgrounds are boring. If we go north, around the playground, we should come to the carousel in about, oh, five or ten minutes. Depends on how quickly we walk. But we need to take a small detour west," he said.

"Not near the zoo?, right?"

"Absolutely not," answered the Doctor. "Nowhere near the zoo. We're going to an arch," he continued. "An arch that leads to the carousel. Hmmm." The Doctor fiddled with his phone, then used his sonic on it.

"OK, to cheat is Time Lord. To forgive is di-- Vine! There's a huge vine leading straight toward the arch. See it?"

He earned an annoyed look from River.

"Well, I try. If you try and don't succeed, go back to the end and try again. Hang on. That was a terrible sentence, hardly worthy of the word 'sentence.' We're nearing the beginning end of the arch; wait, that doesn't sound right either. We're approaching the beginning of the arch that leads to the carousel. I don't normally speak in conundrums. Other than when I'm with you. Something about you confounds me.

"And here we are. This is called the Dipway Arch. Don't know why; do you know what a dipway is?" he asked, consulting his mobile.

River didn't reply.

"Hmm. I doubt that an arch is named after a store in the UK that sells custom hydro dipped controllers and gaming accessories. I think we can cross that off the list. I suppose it's named after someone called Dipway. Unfortunate name. Sounds rather silly, doesn't it? Like an explanation of how to dip vinegar chips into more vinegar. Which would be quite soggy and a general mess. Hang on a sec," he said, typing on his mobile. "No, actually this is one of the Calvert Vaux arches."

River ignored him.

"Most people don't pay attention to the arch because they're in a hurry to get to the carousel. Plus they probably subconsciously ignore arches. Generally New York arches are tall and narrow and yellow, like, oh, like that fast food chain. McDonald."

"McDonald's," said River. "You left out the 's.' " She grinned.

"Well, S isn't a very important letter. If used at the end of a romance language, it almost always mean plural. Except in the case of McDonald's. Here's the arch. Look at how wide it is. 24.14016 meters wide. Looks old, bit it isn't really. The stone is made of blue grey granite set in ashlar, banged repeatedly with bush-hammers to make it look old and weathered. It's not easy to make the inside of an arch look weathered. It's shaped pretty well protect it from the elements,. Especially by that new arch protector building."

He paused to put away his mobile.

"Brilliant!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Take a look at the detail in the abutments. They actually have built-in benches!" the Doctor said, sitting on one. Again he was pulled away by River's hand. "Just take a teeny tiny look up first before you run off," said the Doctor, even though he could tell that the sound of the carousel was calling to River. "Red brick. Divided up into seven arches of--you're not listening to a word I'm saying, are you?"

River didn't respond. She let go of the Doctor's hand and ran toward the carousel. "You're very good at running," he called out. "Running's quite important in my line of work. So it's not really the Dipway Arch; it's the Dipway Seven Arches," he said to himself.

By now the carousel was in full view. River ran toward it, and started to jump on.

"Hang on, hang on there," the Doctor called out as he ran toward River. "It's the middle of the ride. We have to wait for the ride to finish, for the people to get off, and then start at the beginning. He caught up to River.

"This is actually the fourth carousel here. The second and third carousels burned down," the Doctor shouted, "and this one was discovered in a trolley terminal in 1908. Guess it kept the kids from getting bored and cranky waiting for the trolley. I hate cranky kids. It was moved all the way here in 1951, and it hasn't burned down since. "You know this carousel was replaced three times, making it the fourth carousel right here in the park. The first was made in 1871, just a little less than two hundred years ago. Well, a lot less. Actually--"

"One hundred and forty-five years," called River over her shoulder, engrossed by the carousel.

"Listen to this," he called. "The first carousel was powered by mules and horses. It must have smelled like a public restroom full of plugged up toilets. The animals were trained to start and stop whenever the operator tapped his foot. It would have been interesting if the operator were a tap dancer, wouldn't it? Anyhow they replaced it with a motor power carousel. Pay attention to me, River. This is history."

River was staring at the carousel, entranced.

"Too bad you'll never know that Time Lord technology allows this particular carousel to have one million, five hundred thousand, nine hundred and sixty-three horses. Not to mention the four hundred and forty-four chariots," he continued. "And you're still not hearing a word I say."

"Time Lord technology allows this particular carousel to have one million, five hundred thousand, nine hundred and sixty-three horses, and four hundred and forty-four chariots. Which is impossible. It could never support all those horses and seats, but you knew that."

The carousel began to slow down. "Wait till it's completely stopped before getting off, everyone," the operator shouted in a bored voice.

Several mothers held their young children in place until the ride stopped. A few older kids jumped down from their horses and from the moving carousel itself. The operator didn't bother to reprimand them.

When the machine had stopped and everyone had gotten off, River jumped onto the platform and neatly landed on her feet on one of the horses.

"Hey, little lady, you gotta pay first," the operator shouted.

The Doctor cut to the front of the queue, repeatedly saying "I'm sorry" and "I'm so sorry." He showed the operator the psychic paper.

"Oh, excuse me," said the operator. "Park Safety and Inspectors. Feel free to examine any part of the machine you'd like. Just be careful."

"How come that man got to cut in front?" a little girl of five or six asked her mother.

"He's the safety inspector, honey. We need to make sure the ride is safe."

"It was safe a few minutes ago on the last ride," she answered. The mother didn't know what to say. There weren't many people riding in the middle of a weekday, and it didn't take long for the tickets to be collected, the riders to choose their horses, and the organ to start up the carousel music, heralding the beginning of the ride.

The Doctor chose a horse next to River's. Not for long, though. When the carousel started to turn, River balanced on one foot, and began leaping from one horse to another, occasionally pirouetting and turning somersaults between horses. The operator cried out "Stay still!" and the Doctor, having seen River in action, said "No worries. She's been especially trained for this. All part of the inspection."

The man looked sceptical but guessed that either suddenly stopping the ride or jumping up and pursuing River were equally poor choices.

Meanwhile River was still dancing from horse to horse, occasionally doubling back and landing two horses away. She generally stayed on one foot, which the Doctor noticed was now clad in a ballet shoe instead of a boot. Her boots were standing next to the ride. Probably took the slippers with for the carousel, thought the Doctor. He took a small notebook and pencil from one of his myriad pockets, and pretended to take notes. Instead, he sketched an astonishingly accurate picture of River in mid-air, between horses.

River was grinning from ear to ear, and made sure to stop next to the coach with the little girl who'd complained about the Doctor cutting in line. She gave a slight tug of a long braid, and favoured the girl with a huge smile.

The girl smiled back. "Are the 'spectors always here, Mommy?" she asked. "They weren't here last time. I wanna come back and see them again." The Doctor pointed his sonic at his horse and the multi-coloured bridle came off. He grabbed it and tossed it to River, who caught it gracefully with the hand on the other side of the coach, then gave it to the girl. River knelt down on the floor, to be eye level with girl. "You can keep this," she showed the bridle to the girl. "I just need to hold onto it for a little bit," she said. The girl looked dubious as River chucked the bridle at the Doctor. "Thank you," River mouthed silently at the mother.

When the organ began to slow down, River returned to sit on her original horse by the Doctor. He dismounted and quite unnecessarily reached up a hand to help River down.

"Can we ride again?" she asked.

"No, I think the inspection is pretty much complete." He showed the bridle to the ride operator.

"See the weak points here and here," he pointed out in a professional tone of voice. He paused and consulted his notebook. "The carousel is safe enough to ride for now, but I want you to inspect every single horse and bridle to make sure they're securely attached. And keep people off the horse without one." He tossed the bridle to River, who returned it to the overjoyed little girl.

Now that the ride was over, the operator was becoming slightly suspicious. "Please don't forget that I've taken note of your name and employee number," the Doctor said, consulting his notebook. "Have this running in tip-top shape by the weekend and I think we can avoid another inspection for a while." He stared into the man's eyes. "Promise me," he said.

"I promise," replied the operator. "I'll be sure to give her a detailed inspection when we close," he consulted his watch, "which is in about half an hour."

"You do that," said the Doctor, and looked around for River. He saw her approaching. "Ballet shoes?" he asked. "So you weren't improvising," he whispered, out of hearing range of the operator.

"Yes and yes," she answered. "I studied ballet before I went to the Academy. And of course I was improvising."

"Weren't you just a teeny bit frightened?" he asked.

"Not at all," she replied. "I just stopped thinking with my head and thought with my body."

"Quite a body it is," the Doctor said, immediately blushing. "I meant, a well-coordinated body, a body capable of--"

River smiled. "It's ok," she said. "I knew what you meant."

"What next?" asked the Doctor, avoiding mention of the zoo, even though they were a short walk away?

"I want to see the climbing statues," said River.

"Sorry? The ohhhh," replied the Doctor. "The bronze Alice in Wonderland statues. Brilliant choice. We're off to see the Wizard!"

"Isn't that about Dorothy and Oz?" River asked.

The Doctor smacked his forehead. "Of course it is. Sometimes my mind gets, a bit splooshy. Nothing seems to stay in its proper place. Well, no matter. Allons-y! We're off to see the Alice!

"Our route could be slightly shorter or longer, depending--"

"Please shut up," River said, shocking the Doctor. "I'd just like to take a quiet walk through the trees. It will take as long as it takes."

"Alright," the Doctor said. "This path look good to you?"

"Wonderful," she answered, beaming a sweet smile at the Doctor. They started down the path, hand in hand.

 

 


	7. River in Wonderland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A blue wooden box (TARDIS) lands inside Serenity, a firefly airship. The Doctor and River find they can read each others' minds. As they begin to forge a friendship, they are forced by circumstances to flee Serenity in the TARDIS.
> 
> Summary of firefly characters, for those who need it.
> 
> firefly: a post-apocalyptic tv show set after "Earth that was" [our earth] was decimated. New world is dominated by "The Alliance" and rebels. Firefly is a rebel ship.  
> Malcolm Reynolds: Captain of Serenity. Tough but good. Values his ship and crew above all else.  
> Jayne Cobbe: Mercenary. Crew? Loves guns and artillery. Values his well-being above all else.  
> Kaylee Frye: Ship engineer. Very sweet, kind, good.  
> Hoban "Wash" Washburne: Ship pilot. Funny and good. Married to Zooey.  
> Zooey Washburne: Captain's Second in Command. Tough but good. Married to Wash.  
> Simon Tam: Doctor/ship medic. River's brother. Born Alliance but now rebel harboring fugitive.  
> River Tam: Mega-genius; tortured and broken by Alliance. Born Alliance. Now rebel fugitive.  
> Derrial "Book": Preacher highly regarded by Alliance.  
> Inara Serra: Socially elite "companion" (respected call girl)

 

The Doctor and River took very different routes to the Alice in Wonderland statue. The Doctor loved to walk quickly; it brought him that much closer to each new adventure. River tended to run at the speed of light when she needed to, but she preferred to walk slowly. She saw no qualitative difference between a stone path, a tree root, or a famous statue. For River, there were no destinations. Everything was of equal value: the walk to a statue and the statue itself.

River and the Doctor, however, walking hand in hand down the same path at different speeds, did not work out very well.

"Ouch!" said the Doctor for the third time. "Are you planning on dislocating my shoulder? Because I know how to fix it but it's quite painful."

"Shhh," River whispered, letting go of the Doctor's hand. "I can't hear the trees."

"Sorry?" asked the Doctor.

"Shhhhh," River whispered even more quietly. "You're drowning out the trees."

The Doctor gazed down at River, who was squatting on the ground amongst the trees. He wondered what they were talking about, but he kept quiet and forced himself to walk slowly.

"Sadness," River said after a while.

"Pardon?" asked the Doctor.

"The trees are unhappy. They're sad for the forest they've never seen."

The Doctor thought the grove of trees, peppered with bushes and weeds, had a rather nice home. But not being a tree, he couldn't really say. He did, however, understand sadness for experiences he'd never had. Such as seeing his children on Gallifrey grow up to become Time Lords. He turned off that thought and concentrated on the here and now. He continued to walk slowly and quietly while River listened to the trees' sad tale. After a while the Doctor heard River whispering. He bent down to listen, and realized he had no idea what language she was speaking. Tree, he supposed. He wondered how much else there was to River he’d been missing out on. There was no way to phrase the question that made any sense, so instead he ignored the tree conversation.

"They're angry, but not at me. I listen," River answered.

"Yet something else River can do that I can't", he thought. He concentrated and listened to a tree for a few minutes but heard nothing.

The Doctor turned his back on River for several minutes, looking at the New York skyline. He'd never stop being awed by human ideas and achievements. He noticed almost all the birds he saw were pigeons. The wildlife was mostly squirrels, with an occasional chipmunk. He'd like to tell River, but he was afraid she'd spend hours looking for squirrels and having conversations with them. She was such a unique compendium. "River's the first species of one I've ever met," he thought, amazed. "Well, except me, the last Time Lord, which isn't really the same."

"I'm not my own species. I'm human. Just different human," said River.

"It's the difference that makes you so fascinating," the Doctor answered, kicking a stone down the path.

" **NO!** " River shouted. " **Don't study me! STOP!** "

Several strangers looked at them to see if River needed help.

The Doctor groaned, slapped his head and ran his fingers straight up through his hair.

"I'll stop, I promise. I didn't mean to upset you. It was incredibly stupid of me not to remember what happened when you were at the--"

" **DON'T SAY IT!** " River yelled. "Or take me home now," she said, very quietly, with determination.

"I don't want to take you home," the Doctor said, kicking the same stone. He wondered how far he could kick the stone in the same direction, doing the mathematics in his head. He found it was rather unlikely he'd had such success so far. He felt foolishly proud, but felt to silly to tell River.

He'd never met anyhow who'd required such careful consideration before talking to. Yet that was inextricably part of how River was so unique. As always, the Doctor enjoyed a challenge. He'd also never met someone who'd understood him as well. He enjoyed River, very much. He noticed she had turned around and was staring at him.

"I don't have a home," she said quietly. Her parents' mansion was presumably still standing, but if Simon wasn't welcome there, it was no home of River's. Serenity was a home of sorts. This line of thought made her miss Simon so much it hurt. The hurt was loud enough for the Doctor to hear.

"We can visit Simon any time you like," he told River, holding her hand and walking again. "You could call him now, except I left my mobile in the TARDIS and I still haven't remembered to give you one."

"You used your mobile on the way to the carousel," River pointed out.

"So I did. I must be growing senile in my old age. Terrible thought, that. Forgetful, I can live with. Senile, on the other hand," he said as he took out his mobile.

"No and no," said River.

"No what?" asked the Doctor.

River sighed, as if she were speaking to a particularly annoying school child.

"No you're not senile and no I don't want to talk to Simon right now," River slowly explained.

"Well, maybe later," the Doctor answered, thinking it would be fine to call Simon later but just as horrible as ever to become senile later. He knew River was probably picking up on his thoughts, but at this point, he didn't really care. He was quite good at guarding his more secret thoughts and feelings. There was no way River could randomly pick up on them. He tried guarding a sample thought to make sure he was right. "River should really brush her hair," he though. "She looks like an untended sheep." Both these thoughts were closely guarded, and River showed no sign of being upset, or even giggling. "Of course those are pretty silly thoughts,' the Doctor told himself. " I don't even believe them."

He decided he'd need to get used to his unguarded thoughts being available to River, and he didn't really care. Most of his thoughts weren't private, and he'd be delighted if someone picked them up and actually understood them. He gave the rock another kick and evened out his odds. It started off straight, then turned at a 90% angle where the path veered off.   He heard a bonk and an "Ouch!"

He turned the corner and saw the eleven foot tall bronze Alice in Wonderland statue. He also saw a young teenager bending over and massaging his ankle. Next to his foot was the rock.

"I'm sorry, he said, approaching the boy. "I'm so sorry. It didn't occur to me that kicking rocks was a dangerous spectator sport.” The boy gave him a strange look, then walked away.

River slowly and carefully inspected the statue, from the Mad Hatter to Alice on her mushroom to the White Rabbit. She felt the soft smooth bronze, walked underneath the smaller mushroom to look at the larger one, supporting Alice, and stepped out again. When she noticed words inscribed on a granite circle surrounding the statue, she bent down and read them aloud, with wonder, recognition and joy, in a lovely clear voice.

_Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe_

The inscription stopped here, but River continued the stanza,

_All mimsy were the borogoves,  
And the mome raths outgrabe._

Stopping in front of the Mad Hatter, she bowed and continued in a lower voice,

 _Beware the Jabberwock, my son!_  
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!  
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun  
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

River jumped neatly onto the doormouse's head, and recited in a high, mousey tone of voice,

 _He took his vorpal sword in hand:_  
Long time the manxome foe he sought --  
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,  
And stood awhile in thought.

Jumping onto Alice's mushroom, she continued, in her own voice, as she leapt from Alice's foot to her skirts, from her shoulder to her head, and onto her other shoulder, eventually to address the Cheshire Cat

 _And, as in uffish thought he stood,_  
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,  
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,  
And burbled as it came!

River twirled, took a large leap, and landed on the White Rabbit's head.

 _One, two! One, two! And through and through_  
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!  
He left it dead, and with its head  
He went galumphing back.

River skipped back to the Mad Hatter, lowered her voice, and continued,

 _And, has thou slain the Jabberwock_  
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!  
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'  
He chortled in his joy.

For the last verse, River turned cartwheels around the entire statue and repeated, in her own voice, not at all affected by the cartwheels,

 _Twos brillig, and the slithy toves_  
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:  
All mimsy were the borogoves,  
And the mome raths outgrabe

She finished and stood in front of the statue, slightly winded but with a huge smile on her face. The crowd began to applaud, but the teenaged boy who'd been accidentally hit with the Doctor's rock stood to face her, back to the crowd, and began to harass her.

"That's just a lot of nonsense," he said.

River stood on her hands and said "No, sense,"

The boy snorted.

"Humpty Dumpty explains it all in "Alice Through the Looking Glass," River countered.

 _"Brillig' means four o' clock in the afternoon--the time when you begin broiling things for dinner."_  
"That'll do very well," said Alice: "and 'slithy'?"  
"Well, 'slithy' means 'lithe and slimy,' 'Lithe' is the same as 'active.' You see it's like a portmanteau--there are two meanings packed up into one word."

The teenaged boy declared "Humpty Dumpty is even more nonsense, asshole."

"I believe he speaks with his mouth hole," countered River. "But if you must spoil all the fun," she said as she shook her hair and stood upright," Lewis Carroll himself," she paused, "you **do** know who Lewis Carroll is?" she asked both parenthetically and rhetorically, "explained it himself in literal English. It kills the magic," River said, but here's what the author himself said:"

_“He gave the following as the literal English of the passage. ‘It was evening, and the smooth active badgers were scratching and boring holes in the hill-side; all unhappy were the parrots; and the grave turtles squeaked out.’ “_

“From The Annotated Alice, Martin Gardner's 1959 edition, with his 1990 volume,  _More Annotated Alice._ ”

"There," said River. "Are you happy now?

The teenager kicked a pebble and the crowd began to applaud in earnest.

The Doctor noticed that all this attention was upsetting River; her face was white and her eyes looked stunned. Sure enough, River turned her back on the crowd and hid underneath the most protected place she could find, Alice's mushroom. The Doctor followed her in as best he could; his long legs sticking out from under the mushroom.

"River," the Doctor said slowly and carefully, "That was an extraordinary performance."

 **"No No no not performance!"** shouted River, half screaming and half crying. " **Not a performance not understood, must be understood MUST BE UNDERSTOOD!!!"** By now River was wailing at the top of her lungs and couldn't stop shrieking. The Doctor managed to pull himself up a little and held her as tightly as possible. When he used one hand to smooth her hair, her keening got ever louder. He immediately removed the hand and embraced her as hard as he could, in his awkward, stuck position.

The teenager had long since left and parents had started to usher their children away. A teenaged girl stuck her head in with River and the Doctor. Her eardrums almost burst. She tried to say "thanks, that was great, it doesn't matter if it makes sense or not," but River just screamed louder. The Doctor thanked the girl for trying and acknowledged she was very brave to do so, but said it was probably best to leave them alone for now.

The Doctor and River stayed under the mushroom for few more minutes while he tried to calm River down. He heard a loud clinking of keys and a deep bass voice shout (and echo under the mushroom] "We got a problem here?" The voice sounded half angry and half concerned; it could go either way. The last thing River needed was an angry security officer.

"No sir" said the Doctor in his most obsequious voice. "We're fine. My niece here just got a little overexcited. Pretty high on the Asperger’s scale with some cognitive slippage and dissociation disorder. Probably my fault; she takes so many medicines, I may have forgotten to give her one. I'm sorry I can't talk face to face but we're squished in pretty tight here and you seem to be blocking the exit."

The security officer moved out of the way and asked if they needed any help. "Nah, we're fine," said the Doctor, then realised how not fine they must appear. “Problem is, we seem to have gotten a bit stuck. If you could just tug a bit on my legs-“ The security guard pulled hard, very hard, and a dirty, disheveled Doctor grabbing onto an even dirtier and more disordered River came popping out. River looked around wide-eyed. The Doctor practically shoved the psychic paper in the guard’s voice.

“Oh, I see. Can I help? Should I call for help?”

“Honestly, the best thing right now is to just let her alone. We’ll be gone within minutes. Thank you so much for your understanding.”

“OK then, you take care now,” said the guard, rather hurriedly backing away. The Doctor looked around, and when no one seemed to be moving, he used the sonic to call the TARDIS to a nearby grove of trees. Her invisibility filter was on, but he liked to be extra careful. He and River were sitting on the concrete, dirty, scratched and bloody. The Doctor could always see the TARDIS, even when it was protected. Apparently River could do so, as well. The second she saw it land she dashed off, and the Doctor ran fast enough to unlock the door and shove them inside, slamming and locking the door behind him. River made a beeline for her place under the console while the Doctor got two bottles of water. He shoved one under the console, heard some slurping and guzzling, and retrieved it in what felt like 30 seconds when the bottle appeared empty in mid-air. He gave River his own water and brought over two more bottles. His hearts were still beating a little faster than normal.

He was seriously considering taking River back to Serenity and leaving her with her brother, but even the thought left a hole inside him. After a few more minutes River crawled out and looked up at the Doctor with huge eyes. He began to reach out his hand for her but she caught it hard, dragged him to her, and hid her head into his shoulder. The Doctor kissed the top of her head and then began to smooth out her hair with one hand, holding her tight with the other. If she were a cat, River would have been very quietly purring. The Doctor wondered how just minutes ago he’d been considering leaving her on Serenity. She was the best thing that had happened to him since, well, since he left Gallifrey. He could no longer imagine life without her. He did wish he didn’t have a 900 year old backbone; her leaning on him was sweet but increasingly uncomfortable; she almost knocked the Doctor down flat. Brilliant, he thought, as he held her with one hand and lowered himself to the floor with his other arm. Not deluxe, but not bad. River grabbed his top arm and rolled over on her side, back towards the Doctor. This effectively forced him either to tug his arm back, or to lie on the floor spooning her. He was too tired to think of other alternatives, and they both fell asleep spooning on the TARDIS floor.

Just before she drifted off, River thought she hadn’t felt this safe since the Academy. The Doctor’s last thought before sleep was that he was simultaneously the least and most comfortable he’d been in a long time. A very long time. River’s hair kept tickling his face, making him want to sneeze. But there was no place else he’d rather be.


End file.
